Hobby Lobby and the Supreme Court: A Call to Prayer

This week, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear the most important religious liberty case in a generation, and it’s time for us to pray. The cases are Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood specialties versus the United States government’s mandate that employers provide insurance for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. Behind that is the larger question of what it means for the Constitution to guarantee the free exercise of religion.

And behind that is the even larger question of soul freedom for all.

We need to pray because this case isn’t about politics or culture wars. This case will set the tone for the next hundred years of church/state jurisprudence in this country. This case will tell us whether we’ve bartered away a birthright paid for with our forebears’ blood.

Richard John Neuhaus rightly argued years ago that it’s a mistake to see the two clauses of the First Amendment’s religious liberty guarantee—no establishment of a religion by the state and no restriction on free exercise of religion—as too sharply divided. They are two sides of the same coin. A government that sets up a religion is restricting free exercise, and a government that restricts free exercise is setting up some alternative church. He’s exactly right, and that’s what’s happening here.

As a Baptist Christian, I can say that we’ve seen this before. My Baptist forebears objected to the state licensing preachers to preach. This was, the government said, simply a matter of paperwork. The state license, though, was about more than a fee and a piece of paper. It was about a government that had overstepped its authority. My Baptist ancestors objected to paying taxes to support the Congregationalist established churches of New England.

Isaac Backus, a courageous preacher, was told that this was “only a contending about paying a little money.” Backus responded with fire, “It is absolutely a point of conscience with me; for I cannot give in the certificates they require without implicitly acknowledging that power in man which I believe belongs to God.”

That’s exactly what’s at stake here. The government is telling the Hobby Lobby owners, the Green family, that their free exercise rights aren’t relevant because they run a corporation. They’re telling these Anabaptist woodworkers and the Catholic Little Sisters of the Poor and ministries of all sorts all over the country that what’s at stake is just the signing of some papers, the payment of some money.

Our government has treated free exercise of religion as though it were a tattered house standing in the way of a government construction of a railroad; there to be bought off or plowed out of the way, in the name of progress.

The government wants us to sing from their hymn book, “Onward, Sexual Revolutionaries,” but we can’t do that. We love and respect our leaders, but when they set themselves up as overlords of the conscience, we must respectfully dissent.

We cannot accept the theology lesson the government has sought to teach us, that religion is simply a matter of what happens during the scheduled times of our services, and is left there in the foyer during the rest of the week.

Our religious convictions aren’t reduced to simply the opinions we hide in our hearts, or sing in our hymns. Our religious convictions inform the way we live.

We support freedom of conscience not only for ourselves, but also for all. One of the reasons we oppose this sort of incursion into free exercise is that we want neither to be oppressed nor to oppress others. We do not ask the government to bless our doctrinal convictions, or to impose them on others. We simply ask the government not to set itself up as lord of our consciences.

Many Americans will disagree with us heartily about the things we believe. But even Americans of no religious faith at all have an interest in the protection of these liberties. Do we really want the sort of civil society in which the consciences of the people are so easily swept aside by government action?

If the federal government can force organizations and businesses to pave over their own consciences, to choose between being believers and being citizens, what will stop the government from imposing its will on anyone’s conscience next?

As Christians, soul liberty is about more than political principle for us. We believe, as our Lord commands, that we should render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar. The conscience does not bear the image of Caesar, and cannot be swept into the federal treasury by government fiat.

So let’s pray that the Court listens to the case being made. Let’s pray for the justices. Let’s pray for the attorneys. Let’s pray, as the Apostle Paul commands us, for “all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2).

Let’s pray that our court system would, like Jefferson and Madison in the founding era, recognize that religious liberty and freedom of conscience aren’t government bailouts but inalienable rights granted by the Creator himself. This isn’t just about Hobby Lobby. It isn’t just about the HHS mandate. It’s about whether the government is “under God” or all-encompassing. Our politicians, on their best days, might aspire to Mount Rushmore, but they don’t reign from Mount Zion.

22 Comments

Cheryl BraswellMarch 24, 2014

Thanks so much, Dr. Moore, for helping concerned Christians keep abreast of the developments in this case. I will encourage all I know to pray.

Jeff JonesMarch 24, 2014

Please pray for the Supreme court to listen to the voice of God and side with these two companies. It’s time we, as Christians, take our nation back to what it was founded on. That being a belief in the almighty God and freedom to worship Him and implement His ways into all areas of iur government and lives.

Steve BermanMarch 24, 2014

Praying that the Lord’s will be done, and that this nation will start its turn toward God by placing a stake in the ground by the SCOTUS. http://bit.ly/1dj1OxN

Brenda BeckmanMarch 24, 2014

Praying often! Love Hobby Lobby just the way it is! Christianity needs to stand regardless. Hugs

MatthewMarch 24, 2014

My family and I pray victory in the name of the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit…

Marla J.GuyMarch 24, 2014

No comments? Fear dominates everything. People know the government is watching everything and are afraid to even comment.
It has gone beyond apathy. It is now silence. Yes, I see it, but what can I do? I believe in prayer and yes, I will pray; but not only for the court case and God’s blessings upon the companies who dare to stand; but, for a strong leader to bring people together for action.
Nothing is too difficult for God. We must stand together with Assurance not Fear.

David G. JohnsonMarch 24, 2014

Thank you for this articulate, well-thought-out piece. You’ve encapsulated what I believe to be the heart of the issue: “…we want neither to be oppressed nor to oppress others.”

It’s not acceptable for the US government to over-reach as it has done. We’re standing with you on our knees for the heart of God to be displayed through this case.

Blessings,

David G. Johnson, Founder
Nourish The Dream

Gay MontgomeryMarch 25, 2014

It is time for all Christians to unite and stand up for our Right to express our Christian beliefs. I for one am tired of the Government telling me what I can believe. If you are Christian,PLEASE stand up for your Religious Rights. Do not let the Government tell us what to do or say.

Eric JacobsonMarch 25, 2014

Thanks for the good article. I did balk at your comment: ” We love and respect our leaders…”
Really? We are to love our enemies, but to love and respect the persons that have directly legislated so many disastrous and destructive laws that adversely affect our liberties like the ones you are writing about in your article above seems patronizing at best. When the enemy is at the door, as our feckless and ruthless leaders in Washington are, we need to call them for what they are, enemies of the people, bent on their destruction.

Michael JulianMarch 25, 2014

Today, all the way to the rendering of a decision and beyond should be days of fervent prayer. We must stand tall for religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and most importantly for biblical truth. I wrote a short piece yesterday on my blog about this very case. I had an unexpected turn in the potential nature of my prayer, though. I wrestled with the question of whose will do I want to see accomplished. My will asserts a victory for Hobby Lobby and Conestoga. But, what if God’s will might include a wake-up call to America through this particular case? If God would use a potential defeat to bring about a revival of repentance in our country, then would we readily submit to His will? God knows what we need even before we ask. Sometimes, I find that my wants obstruct God’s will. Let us pause to consider praying fervently for “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” The entirety of my blog piece can be viewed at http://www.hearthstonefamily.blogspot.com. It is entitled, “A Supreme Prayer.”

Steve CornellMarch 25, 2014

Imagine that Obamacare mandated provision of health insurance for the abortion procedure itself. Would you feel that companies like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties had a right to refuse to support it? Sound like a stretch? Don’t forget that abortion has been consistently framed in liberal politics as a healthcare issue for women. Why should this be a strange possibility? Beyond this case, I am personally not supportive of the role government is taking in healthcare but that’s an issue to address in the next two elections. http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/supreme-court-case/

AdamoVMarch 25, 2014

This is most definitely a case about politics and culture wars. Religious leaders and companies like Hobby Lobby didn’t say a word before the HHS mandate even though there were already laws in many states requiring health plans and insurers to cover contraception (including emergency contraception). The only reason why they care now is because they were told to care by right-wing politicians and the Conservative Entertainment Complex. Why should they care now? Because their guy isn’t in the Oval Office.

The funniest part about all of this: Hobby Lobby would probably still be covering emergency contraception if Obamacare never existed. They should be thanking the government for making them aware of their own policy, not suing them.

Hobby Lobby, and sadly many religious leaders, are just pawns in this ridiculous political and culture war. Open your eyes.

Russell Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.READ MORE